April 4, 2012

Trying to enjoy the wonders of Spring, we decided to grow our own Easter grass this year. There´s no sign of green outside yet (we just had snow this week!) so I thought girls would be delighted to get their own piece of green for Easter.

We usually travel to my in-laws on Easter holidays, main reason I didn’t encourage my daughters to have their own baskets at home before (they often get pretty ones from their grandmother!).

You see… it was really exciting for them to watch the grass grow from seeds to “bush”. Too bad our lack of experience resulted in irregular surfaces :P. Next time I figured we need to use more seeds (even if the package says the opposite!).

Anyways, girls acquired a new skill and had fun at same time :D.

A beautiful package right? This was made by Luonnonvoima in her pre-school. It has barley grass in. Yep, I admit, it is prettier than ours >_<!

Girls trying different styling: LV has the orange basket and little PS the purple :) *the chick is flying mommy!*

***

We are off for the holidays and as you might have guessed already, we are spending the long weekend with my girls´ grandparents.

Wish you all a very Happy Easter! Hyvää Pääsiäistä! Feliz Páscoa!

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.

November 22, 2011

I don´t even know how to start this again…

Let´s see… Has it been 4 months since last post? We are almost in the end of November!! Gosh, this year is definitely going too fast…

Some of you already know we sold our old apartment and moved to a new one in the end of Summer. Moving was a total madness, the place is bigger but feels there´s not enough space for all our stuff… and the furnishing and decor are still half done :P

After a short summer vacation (bothered immensely by our moving) my Luonnonvoima started pre-school. That meant… changes in our daily routine and schedules. Also, no need to make bentos: sadly (or… luckily?) LV gets her meals at her day care place.

Anyways, I want to keep making bentos :)! I might not be offering them so often, but the idea of giving my daughters a fun, nutritious and balanced meal can’t be easily forgotten right? ^^

I planned to make a come back to my blog on October. Unfortunately we fell ill and could only spend time fighting off a nasty cold that seemed to last forever. Cough and sore throat coming and going… husband got really sick, followed by my two daughters and I myself. Argh, more than a month. I still have a sore throat and very low energy, guess I am still recovering from this nightmarish times.

But here I am! Christmas is coming… I had some ideas in mind for the traditional crafts I try to do every year… I really hope I can execute them and show to you guys in the next blog posts!

:)

Have a great week friends!

PS: The pictures in this post were taken in early September at a park located very near our new home. The park, called “Arboretum”, is a forest research area founded by the Helsinki University, situated very close to the “Old City Bay” (Vanhankaupunginlahti). The whole area is a nature reserve and you can go there for a walk, go biking, watch birds (there are two towers for observation), flora or just relax. It is a really cool place to be in the craziness of the city :).

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.

March 25, 2011

I made these speedy bentos for the girls today. Not much cuteness factor but they were happy to see the little tomato ladybugs. I must admit you, results are not so good when you are in a hurry…

Thanks everyone who had asked about our flu/cough/sickness. We really appreciated the well wishes ^^. Girls are much better, coughing once and a while, so I (almost) consider them all healthy again.

As we got better, I could finally go out and check the fruits and veggies nearby. Happy to find good clementines… they were juicy and sweet… my last purchase was a total failure (dry with that yuck-flavor). Looking forward to Spring and the fresh produce it brings…

The contents of the boxes: chicken stir fry with mixed vegetables and noodles (I usually put a handful of cashew nuts but I forgot this time :/. Pikkusiili is a huge fan of nuts ^_^ ), lettuce, raw baby-carrots, cherry tomato ladybugs with nori details, dark grapes and clementines.

AHA! So you thought I don´t “obento” anymore ;). I can surprise you sometimes :P.

Talking about bentos…

As I mentioned before, me and my friends in the bento community all over the world have come together to establish a fundraising event for the Japanese quake victims, what we call “Bento4Japan“.

In 9 days of its operations we managed to raise $2000 (so far), which makes me extremely happy and thankful to all people involved. Contributions and bids on our bento auctions have been exceptionally good and we still keep going on. For european friends who cannot bid for the gorgeous bento gear offered on ebay, we have a raffle available for you to participate. Please take a look if you have time ^^.

Another thing…

Actually… it is a favor I ask. Everyone knows I´ve been following the news about the earthquake in Japan and the devastating results that came after it.

I try to get as much information as I can, reading news mostly (I am not much a tv-person anyways) and I noticed there have been many absurd articles, here and there. Some texts tend to emphasize topics in such way that lead to terrible misunderstandings.

Maki from Just Hungry/Just Bento wrote a very good message to the bento community, pointing out ways how we can help Japan, not only by donating… but also, by keeping our minds open for learning and educating ourselves. I explain… with so much doubtful perspectives and sensationalism, it is quite easy to fall on hysteria and misinformation.

Please head to her blog and read the message. It serves not only to the bento community, but for everyone. We need to keep rational (and reasonable, right?) ;)

This post was written by karaimame exclusively for Acquiring Taste. All writing, images and other materials in this blog remain the property of Acquiring Taste and cannot be used without permission.